Buy this book, End Malaria, and your $20 will go to buy some mosquito nets, which I guess they don’t have enough of in Africa. Seems simple enough.

The thing is, they know for a fact that mosquito nets will protect children and others from the mosquitoes that carry malaria. It’s a simply preventable disease that no one should have to endure. Especially when a lot of us could skip a lunch for $20 and help those less fortunate.

And if you do it today, you’ll be a part of End Malaria Day, where the book will reach #1 on Amazon and save 4 million lives.

Now, I’m not talking about something with song and dance in it (although that might not be a bad idea), I’m just saying that you need to be a little creative in assembling a good video. It’s amazing how hard it is for us to create an entertaining video when we’ve all grown up watching them on TV. There must be some kind of deception factor that lulls us into the TV and we think that is just real life or something. It’s actually probably the skill of the producers.

Sure, footage on TV is done by a whole crew, with top notch equipment, writers, directors, and the works, but that shouldn’t stop us from learning what we can from what we see.

The next time you watch a commercial, instead of getting drawn into the message or story, try to step back and observe all the pieces of the production – the different camera angles, the short clips, the music, the script, storyline, transitions, etc. And see if you can add a few of those concepts to your videos. Those pieces make it entertaining.

It’s nice to have nice equipment, but you’ll have more creating something unexpected and entertaining that helps people remember you or your message.

P.S. I do have more videos in the works, but I’m going on vacation next week, so you’ll have to wait. (I just had an idea: VACATION Videos! No doubt I’ll have some interesting footage I can share.)

Do something completely out of the ordinary. Write a poem. Wear unmatching socks. Sing at a group meeting. Create some excitement and variety in your life while practicing the skill of fighting the status quo.

Our minds cling to reason and sensibility, which is good for many reasons, but sometimes it keeps us from pushing the boundaries, from exploring the edge of what is possible. It keeps us from doing things that are remarkable because it’s safer to fit in, not stand out.

Creativity has the power to solve all your problems. But you’ve got to exercise that muscle.

Most people in your group don’t know all the cool stuff you know or haven’t read the latest books.

Solution:

Sometimes it’s hard to have a meaningful conversation with your co-workers because they can’t relate to all the things you’re learning. So make it as easy as possible for them to gain the same knowledge as you, create a library at your desk.

Some people are very protective of their books (I know I can be, especially the signed ones) but ideas that spread, win, so we should do our part to spread the good ones.

Bring in a handful of your favorite business books, create some kind of a check-out sheet so you know who has it and for how long, and spread the word(s).

At first, they may not all be scrambling to check out your books, so you might have to bring up the ideas in conversations a little more, or apply them in your work and tell people the source. Then mention, “By the way, I have a copy of that book right at my desk you could check out for a while.”

With a very low barrier for them to get their hands on the actual source, you’ll make the spread of ideas easy. And you’ll be a source of learning, the person people go to to find the latest thinking.

Plus, if you get a few people to read a book, you’ll have something in common and interesting to talk about. It’ll bond you as a group in a different way. You might even be able to start a small movement to implement the things you’ve learned.

People get too many emails every day that are just boring. The same old thing, somebody wants some information, or to have a meeting, there’s an announcement about a charity fundraiser, a broadcast message that the parking lot will be under construction, you know what I mean.

Solution:

If you’re going to write so much every day in emails, why not make them interesting? Write in poetry or prose. You’ll really catch someone off guard and maybe even spread a trend. You’ll find other closet poets emerge sending you their masterpieces and you get to know who has much of a right brain or sense of humor in your office.

If you need to send a short message or give a quick reply, just try putting a little rhythm and rhyme to it and see what happens. If your note needs to be longer, just throw in a little poem at the end

Granted, it will take you a little longer to put the words together, but you’ll have created something worth reading, and will have injected a little fun into someone’s day. It’s something to talk about.